Friday, July 27, 2018

The journey of a 1000 miles begins with single step. You would think that the final steps would be the hardest, but often it is the first steps that are the most difficult to take. This journey has been in and out of my mind for several months, but taking the first steps into the unknown has been more difficult than I imagined. I love to do activities with children, and I am absolutely in my comfort zone creating art with little people. Putting my ideas and activities out into the world of grownups is much scarier.

So, why am I taking this uncertain step?

I love the connection between art and literacy! Connecting art to literacy helps children have another way to ponder, connect to and process things that they have read or listened to.

I love the way that art helps children learn about their world! Art helps children learn more about the world that they live in, while developing creativity, problem solving, confidence, spatial sense, focus, and an understanding of how things interact with each other.

I love food art! There is only so much room on your refrigerator doors! As a mother of four girls I remember the days of too many drawings, and no where to store them all. Food art is great because you create, then you eat! Creating food art makes is easier to shift the focus from the product back to the process.

I know that being a mom is hard work! I love Pinterest but everything we do with our children doesn't have to be picture perfect. The memories you are making with your children are the important part!

I want to give you ideas and suggestions, but I don't want you to feel like you need to follow me exactly. Use what your children like, use what you have, find ways to make projects your own. Several years ago I had a mom call me that has been in one of my classes to ask if she could use Skittles instead of M&Ms because her daughter didn't like chocolate. Please, by all means adapt these ideas to fit what you have, what your child likes, or what you feel comfortable feeding your child.

You don't have to make a special shopping trip to create a memory with your child. I have tried to keep things simple and give you options to use things that you have on hand. You will find a list of things to stock in your pantry that will help you be ready to make food art anytime. Each post or video tells you what you what I used for the project including what things are not on the pantry list.The books I choose are stories that I love! Once again, I am just giving you ideas and suggestions. Does your child have a favorite book? Maybe something that you see will give you inspiration to create food art for a story that YOU love!